You might be interested to know that during her circumnavigation of New Zealand in January of 1945, U-862 actually entered two New Zealand ports looking for suitable targets. Running on the surface, the first one she entered on the night of 15 January 1945, with the docks and shoreline brilliantly lit up, was Gisborne on the North Island. Finding nothing worth to shoot at, she quietly slipped out again without anyone noticing her presence. The second port was Napier on 16 January 1945. Repeating his daring performance at Gisborne Korvettenkapitän Timm, commander of U-862, again decided that shooting at unsuspecting civilians in waterfront cafes (who could be clearly observed from the conning tower) was not in keeping with the tradition of the German Navy, and again quietly slipped out of the harbor, again without being detected by anyone on shore. The author of the book, David Stevens, a native Australian, has this interesting comment: ‘… Timm seems to have missed a perfect opportunity to stir up trouble in a distant area. A few well-placed rounds with the deck gun would almost certainly have caused a public outcry, conceivably lowering enemy morale and no doubt forcing the redeployment or reinforcement of New Zealand’s limited assets.’
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Unterseeboot 862 (U862), also known as the Japanese submarine I-502, was a Type IXD2 submarine operated by Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine during World War II. It was the only German submarine to operate in the Pacific Ocean during World War II.
U862 was laid down on August 15, 1942 by AG Weser of Bremen. She was commissioned on October 7, 1943 with Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Timm in command. Timm commanded U862 for her entire career in the Kriegsmarine, receiving a promotion to Korvettenkapitän on July 1, 1944.
U862 conducted two patrols, sinking seven ships totalling 42,374 tons.
U862 was one of the most travelled of all U-boats. She sailed from Germany in May 1944 and eventually reached Penang, in Japanese-controlled Malaya, in September 1944. Penang was the base for U-flotilla 33, code-named Monsun (”Monsoon”).
On the way there, she launched a T5/G7es Zaunkönig I acoustic homing torpedo at a tanker. The Zaunkönig came around full circle to home in on U862 itself. Only an emergency crash dive saved the U-boat from its own torpedo. She also shot down an Allied PBY Catalina aircraft on August 20, 1944 and then escaped an intense search for her. She sank several merchant ships in the Mozambique Channel between Africa and Madagascar.
U862 departed for her second war patrol from Jakarta in the Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies in December 1944. Assigned the task of operating off Australia, she sailed down the west coast of Australia, across the Great Australian Bight, around the southern coast of Tasmania and then north towards Sydney where she sank the U.S.-registered Liberty Ship Robert J Walker on December 25, 1944. She then travelled around New Zealand and actually entered the port of Napier at night undetected. (According to ‘U-Boat Far from Home’ U862 entered Gisborne Port – not Napier)
U862 then returned to the Indian Ocean. On February 6, 1945, about 1,520km (820 nm) southwest of Fremantle, U862 sank the U.S.-registered Liberty Ship, Peter Silvester, which was loaded with mules bound for Burma.
U862 was also a trial boat for the FuMo 65 Hohentwiel radar system. This was cranked out of a casing on the port side of the conning tower and rose on a mast. The aerial was hand trained onto targets whilst the U-boat was at the surface. The radar had a range up to 7 nautical miles and was very effective where there was little risk from air attack on the U-boat.
When Germany surrendered on May 6, 1945, she put into Singapore and was taken over by the Imperial Japanese Navy. On July 15, 1945 she became the IJN submarine I-502. I-502 surrendered at Singapore in August 1945 and was scuttled there on February 13, 1946.
The German crew of U862 suffered no casualties, and some returned to Germany several years after the war.
Others having been interned at Kinmel Camp, Bodellwyddan North Wales were to remain in Wales and settled in the neighbouring communities of Rhyl, Rhuddlan and Prestatyn. This was due to the risks of returning to the Soviet occupied areas of Germany after the war.
Two of the crew are buried at the new cemetery at Rhuddlan North Wales on nearby plots.
